Was in Galway last weekend for the first time in over a year, and couldn’t get over how shabby - bordering on crappy - Eyre Square looks.

It’s only a couple of years since its revamp, which itself caused major disruption to the city. And what’s the result? Balding grass. Wilting, brown shrubbery. An ugly zig-zag of paths. And a terrible, rusty-looking sculpture in a fountain at the top end, which is supposed to be based on the Galway hooker, but from ground level it looks pointless and aged and redolent of the problems of public sculptures which are inoffensive to the point of being bland.

Maybe it’ll look better as the summer brings out its colour, but right now it’s drab and uninviting and soulless.

The Carlton site on Dublin’s O’Connell St, long promised its revamp, has finally got some plans - and the ‘Park in the Sky’ is the headline feature. 13 storeys above street level, the top will be reached by a funicular (”summit” is used in reports, but that’s a bit strong).

According to Frank McDonald today:

So there is scope to put in not just one, but two internal streets connecting O’Connell Street with Moore Street and Henry Street.

At their junction, the tallest element would rise up 13 storeys, with a glazed canopy on the front over a “hydroponic wall” of vegetation similar to what French architect Jean Nouvel did on the Quai Branly in Paris. This would provide green space on an otherwise arid street.

The internal streets, though covered by a “rainscreen”, would be open to the public 24 hours a day, unlike the malls of a conventional shopping centre. They would also serve the purpose of providing a new route between the Henry Street area and Parnell Square.

(You can see Nouvel’s scheme here.)

It looks pretty good on paper, although remains open to the planning laws, construction and Dubliner’s inevitavable attempts to vandalise it. And it could prove to be a revitalisation of O’Connell St. Or yet another plan that will fail to lift a street whose soul has long been blighted by a combination that includes plastic shopfronts, Dr Quirkey’s and chewing gum.

Like Jim, I was at Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in Belfast on Saturday night. Afterwards, I met a couple of locals who were a bit let down by the show. “They’ll probably never do Belfast again, so he should have played a few of the older hits.”

You can’t please everyone, I suppose. Springsteen is not a heritage act, churning out 30 year old hits as a reminder of how good he was several decades ago (I’m looking at you, Rolling Stones). The new songs fit neatly into a varied set, while songs from The Rising are reminders of how newer songs have already become minor classics. Only one song, the 35-year-old Kitty’s Back, fell flat for me. But the final run in - Born To Run, Dancing in the Dark, American Land and Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town - made you glad to be alive.

As for the venue, it reminded you that an arena doesn’t have to a big shed. When Springsteen played the Point during the Devils and Dust tour you could actually hear the rain bouncing off the roof during one song.

Plus, staff handed out tickets as souvenirs, which was a nice touch - even if it’s not been quite so good for the collection since Ticketmaster made all tickets look the same. My tip for anyone travelling to a gig at the Odyssey, though, is to make sure to book a restaurant in advance to avoid the queues. The Indian Ocean looked good.

By the way, the ferris wheel looks good on the skyline. So what if it’s aping the London Eye - a good idea is a good idea (although there have been complaints that it’s in the wrong spot).

We got lost looking for the Odyssey, of course, and as a barman was showing us the way a car full of frazzled Limerick folk arrived having got lost too. It took no time to get there and back, though, thanks to the wonders of Southern engineering. Thank you EU structural fund.

On which note, is there a more beautiful man-made structure in the State than the Boyne Bridge at night? It’s a glorious sight on the M1 at 1am, bathed in soft blues, greens and reds. The Spire, with its 20-watt bulbs, is nothing in comparison.

After deciding against the original proposal, the new winning design for the U2 tower has been revealed, and it’s this fine-looking effort from Norman Foster (although I’m always wary of the artist’s drawing since the Spire was initially made out to be an orgy of spotlights rather than the dim candle that it is).

According to Frank McDonald in today’s paper:

The sensational new scheme has the rock band’s eggshaped recording studio suspended beneath a battery of vertical wind turbines and a huge solar panel at the top. This “energy centre” will raise the overall height from 130m (427ft) to 180m (591ft).

The tilted triangular tower, designed by Foster + Partners, will include a public viewing platform offering panoramic views over the city and Dublin Bay. This will be located just below U2’s “pod” studio, which will be separated from the structure for acoustic reasons.

And:

In addition to the tower, which will largely comprise luxury apartments, the scheme includes a five-star hotel in a flanking building to the south, oversailing a block of 34 social and affordable apartments, which comprise 20 per cent of the overall residential content.

The area certainly need a landmark building. For all the redevelopment, there’s been nothing to stop you in your tracks - as does, say, Newcastle’s Sage concert hall, which I saw a couple of months back and realised just how naked Dublin’s docklands are in comparison.

From my fourth floor desk, I have a wonderful view of the architectural brute that is Hawkins House, and its ugly sister Apollo House. The former, in particular, with its green hunchback, is a building that truly saps the soul. In my days as a bicycle courier, I used to have the pleasure of going into it daily - the pleasure coming from being able to leave it straight away.

When it rains, these two building amplify misery in an almost preternatural way - as if their architects had some sort of gripe against the city and, perhaps, humanity. Occasionally, I can see window cleaners making their way across their gloomy windows. It appears the very definition of Sysiphean.

Anyway, they’re coming down, to be replaced by a high density office complex. If they need some help with the demolition, I’ll buy a new sledgehammer especially.

They are not the only ugly buildings in Dublin, or the country, of course. Off hand, you could argue that they form a quadrangle of ugliness alongside Liberty Hall (toweringly horrible) and Busáras (architecturally seminal, visually offensive). The capital also has the Penney’s building and the Ilac Centre; while the new building by City Hall on Dame Street is breathtakingly misplaced, and a worthy new addition to the hall of horrors.

Elsewhere, Cork County Hall may be a protected building, but not because the city loves it. Queen’s University Students’ Union has been touted as Belfast’s ugliest, but Dublin has UCD, which remains a riot of ugliness (ironic, really, because it was designed to be riot-proof).

Any other suggestions? We might get a gallery of the grotesque out of it.